It took Clinton Leupp a long time to find the pride in being gay. In fact, if you had to name the ten worst places in America for a swishy boy to grow up, the Bronx would probably be right up there. “I stood out as a gay boy, so I really was picked on, it felt like, every day,” says Leupp.

Leupp survived. And now he’s making bank with his tales of tribulation as Miss Coco Peru, a saucy, sassy survivor who not only struts and sings but also brings lightness and laughter to a touchy subject. Not for nothing, he looks good in a dress, too.

You might have seen her… on “Will & Grace,” “Boy Meets Boy,” or “Arrested Development.” No? How about “To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar”, when she appeared as herself? No? Well, sashay your skirt to the Gay Pride Virginia Festival on Saturday, where Miss Coco will offer up a shaved-down version of the 90-minute show she performs in theaters. (Last month, she drew audiences for 12 nights at London’s Soho Theater.)

“People have said my drag show, you could take your mother to,” Miss Coco said in a phone interview this week. “I don’t know if they want to share the gift of Coco with their mothers or if they’re saying, ‘See mom? It could be a lot worse.’”

Coco’s shows are primarily monologues that delve into Everygayman’s inner demons. “I’m known as the drag queen that talked, when I started almost 14 years ago,” Miss Coco notes. Her shtick isn’t about mimicking Barbra or lip-synching to Donna Summer. “I like my shows to have a beginning, a middle and an end. I sing certain songs, but I do them my own way, sometimes without having to change the words.” And it all has a point: Be true to yourself.

“I jokingly say I had a calling to do drag, but I honestly felt that way,” she says. Coco/Leupp wrote the bones of the show before ever donning a dress. “Two weeks before my first show opened, I saw myself in drag for the first time. Since then it’s been one great moment after another.”

Among the greatest moments, Coco says, are emails from people all over the world. “I especially like to get emails from young people who value my material. It makes me feel good, like I’m being heard, to see a young person at 15 saying they came out after seeing my show.”

Coco was way too coy about sharing any show teasers. But she did say what we won’t see (unless she reads this and changes her mind): a bit she calls “Ugly Coco.”

According to Miss Coco, the hit show “Ugly Betty” ripped off one of her bits. “On the road, people come up to me and say I stole it from ‘Ugly Betty.’ They stole it from me.” Worse, it happens more frequently than TV viewers think. “Once I saw a comedian on HBO doing part of my act. It’s shocking, and it’s devastating, because I don’t have access to those big kinds of TV audiences.”

In the “Ugly Coco” bit, she addresses the issue. “It just makes me uglier. But that’s what people want to see. Not a well-adjusted drag queen, but the ugly, bitter drag queen.”

Pride 07
Saturday Noon-6pm
17th Street Farmer’s Market

http://www.misscoco.com

http://www.gaypridevirginia.org

Sarah Harnden, where are you? It’s been over five years!

go coco!  you are BEYOND valley of the dolls. BEYOND Samantha in Bewitched Absolutely flawless. You are doing great work in the world by teaching people to just be themselves.  This is a very difficult task for some and they need your guidance. 

Cudos,

Sarah Harnden